1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with

Here's a portion of the appropriate song for those of us who remember it:
Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number.

It takes three legs to make a tri-pod
Or to make a table stand.
It takes three wheels to make a ve-hicle
Called a tricycle.

Every triangle has three corners,
Every triangle has three sides,
No more, no less.
You don't have to guess.
When it's three you can see
It's a magic number.

A man and a woman had a little baby,
Yes, they did.
They had three in the family,
And that's a magic number.

So odd that the great, I mean truly great, jazz singer and pianist Blossom Dearie, sang that song and many others on "Schoolhouse Rock." It would be like finding out Stravinsky wrote the theme song to Mr. Ed.

As for the sound bites...awww. So cute. Jon, next you might want to teach her to say "cancel my subscription to the LA Times" after what they did to your alma mater on the editorial page.

I guess I should be more upset about the loss to UC Davis, but I'm mostly just amused. It's not like Stanford is good to begin with - it would have hurt much more if Stanford had something to lose other than pride - and I could not care less about what the Jim Romes of the world think of it. I congratulate UC Davis and thank it for keeping the sport interesting. And I hope we learn from it!

I wouldn't crow too much in Berkeley, though. Upsets have a way of evening out...

UCLA's my No. 2. But even I can appreciate when a rival is doing well, like Cal or USC. I tend to like it when anyone from the Pac-10 does well. Which doesn't mean I don't want Stanford to beat them - but I root for Stanford to win, not to ruin the other team's season.

I went to Cal--both undergrad and grad. So I'm stuck with them. Through most of my alumni life, a .500 record was considered an accomplishment. Getting nationally ranked? Rare. Last Rose Bowl in 1959. Under Jeff Tedford, the Bears are starting to look like a real life college football program. They were one blown route from beating the #1 Trojans for the second year in a row last year. It was Rodgers only incompletion the whole day. Had that gone the other way...I can't even think about it. They probably won't be quite that good this year, though.

- Happy Birthday to the 3 year old. Very cute audio files. My 15 month old is babbling all the time. I am convinced that if you record what she says then play it at a super slow speed she will be telling me things like "Acceptance daddy!", "Wait til next year!", "Why can't I eat cookies!?".

- Any word on how Dionner Jr is doing?

- I thought Cal was probably the 2nd or 3rd best team last year, and was upset at the non West Coast bias when they didn't even make it to a BCS bowl game... then they lost their bowl game and I had to think otherwise.

Has anyone heard anything about DePo wanting to leave L.A.? In today's USA Today, Bob Nightengale has an article about GMs on the hot seat:

"Paul DePodesta, Dodgers

 Survival odds: 60%

DePodesta has a target on his back after this miserable season. He's responsible for the horrid signings of J.D. Drew, Derek Lowe and Odalis Perez. But the farm system has been nicely restocked, and there's no reason why the Dodgers won't contend again next year.

The big question will be whether DePodesta even wants to come back. He has told friends that he's miserable. He has three years left on his contract, and owners Frank and Jamie McCourt don't want to swallow $2.4 million.

 Prediction: DePodesta stays, but if the Dodgers miss the playoffs next season, he's out."

15 - It was discussed yesterday. Certain journalists on this board took exception to the use of unattributed quotes with ambiguous meanings, as do I.

Apropos of that, it appears Brian Cashman and Lou Piniella could be looking for new employment opportunities. Anyone here favor hiring either or both? Cashman worked wonders when he didn't have Big Stein breathing down his neck, but he also worked his way up from the grounds crew in that organization, and might be lost anywhere else. Piniella's issues are well-known, but he's proven he can win with decent talent, and won his only WS in the NL (RED FLAG--this was the only time he had a really reliable bullpen). The best thing about him may be that he offers a bullet-proof excuse to get rid of Tracy.

Looks like Phillips days as a Dodger are numbered. No surprise there. From the LA Daily News:

"Despite the fact that Dodgers backup catcher Paul Bako is missing the final four months of the season after knee surgery, general manager Paul DePodesta said Wednesday he is open to re-signing Bako this winter, a statement that casts further doubt on the future of Jason Phillips."

7 My usual reaction to a Timmermann post is a mixture of awe and gratitude for all the work and insight he puts into it. But I found a nit! Pete Coscarart was misspelled.
The main point remains; Bob is a priceless resource.

13 - i think cal's last rose bowl was 1955, actually. i remember because i was hoping to attend the rose bowl this past january if they got in it, and it would have been the 50th anniversary of their last rose bowl appearance. i will never forgive texas for usurping their rose bowl spot.

14 - that's reasonable, but put it this way. if you thought you deserved to play in a BCS bowl(and the rose bowl, no less) and then found out you got demoted to some relatively meaningless game instead, you'd have a hard time getting excited about it. granted, they should've won the game anyway, but i don't entirely blame them for phoning that one in. and texas tech isn't a bad team. this year they're ranked top-20 already.

Six switch hitters. I know it is doubtfull that we would have both Bradley and Cruz and that would certainly not be our optimal starting lineup but just pointing out the possibility.
Giving us six switch hitters.

I think the 65/66 Dodgers had a lineup of switch hitters with
Gilliam/Wills/Wes Parker/Lefebvre/Schofield

Schofield didn't really play much and would have replaced either Gilliam/Wills/Lefebvre if he did.

The LA Times reported today that Jason Philips is eligible for arbitration. If that is true I would expect the Dodgers to non tender him because his 53 runs batted in could prove troublesome in arbitration. I don't think he'll sign a contract since he thinks he's a starting catcher and knows that he will never get that chance again in Los Angeles. So we will be in need of a backup. Rose or Bako should fill the need until Martin is ready but if we were to trade Martin for other needs I would want a better backup then Rose or Bako.

i think cashman gets too much credit. bob watson built the team. cashman just filled subsequent holes with whatever big name free agent or high priced player expressed an interest in wearing pinstripes. with the possible exception of his signing of scott brosius.

i'm sure that this has been beaten to death in everyone's mind here, but i was comparing the respective statistics for olmedo saenz and hee seop choi for the season. choi's obp is only a couple points higher, while saenz has a far higher slugging percentage. choi has still had more ABs this season, yet saenz has more RBI than he(e).

Wouldn't Lou Piniella be the polar opposite of L.A.'s most popular coach, Phil Jackson? Wouldn't you love to see Piniella having his first "chat" with Simers after the Dodgers have a three-game losing streak?

38 There is no question that Saenz has been the superior player. I don't think even the most fervent Choi fan would deny that. I think most of the furor was over Phillips starting in place of Choi. As noted before though, replacing those Phillips starts with Choi starts probably would not have impacted the season that much.

41 Re: Piniella. This site is full of people who have strong opinions about appropriate managerial decisions, i.e. bunts, keeping starters in too long, overrelying on LOOGY, stolen bases, etc. But they don't keep statistics for managers, at least that I've seen. All we know about them is their W-L record and whatever anecdotally we can pick up, probably from completely unreliable media sources--like John Kruk for example. Why don't they start putting out charts on managers to follow their tendencies over a long period. How many bunts, how many successful in terms of producing runs in the same inning, how many stolen bases called, how many successful, how many pitchouts, how many successful...etc. etc. Does this resource exist? If Tracy does resign, wouldn't it be helpful for DePo to be able to evaluate managers on a spreadsheet like he does players? For all we know, despite his age and crusty personality, Sweet Lou might be Saber-Lou.

true. however, it would have made me (and i'm sure many other dodger fans) feel a lot better if i would not have had to see jason phillips boot ground balls and try to shovel at pitches in the dirt with men in scoring position.

30
No formula but historically players with counting stats get nice arbitration numbers. I don't think out of the box stats such as VORP or WARP would be given much weight in an arbitration hearing. Could be wrong as I do not know what a arbitrator considers or does not consider. I can only look at the money they hand out and wonder what were they thinking.

46- that would be really interesting. i've never personally heard of anything like that, but i would like to see how highly successful managers such as bobby cox, tony la russa and joe torre would measure up if analyzed according to some of those parameters.

i read on yesterday's posts that derek lowe's last season would be 2007 under his current contract. am i mistaken in my impression that he signed a 4 year $36 million deal last winter? that would make his last year 2008, not 2007.

54- true, but there have been some very talented teams in history that did not win championships like the yankees did at the end of the 90's. i would consider 4 championships to be highly successful, even with a proverbial all-star caliber roster.

I believe Phillips won't make a killing in arbitration because his service time is still a couple years shy of the big dollars. So I think you could offer him arbitration - he'll still be at low enough salary to trade.

I'm also not convinced Phillips wouldn't be a better backup catcher than Bako, defensive issues aside. (Of course, I'd be willing to let Navarro play 100 games and Martin 60).

I was going to do a longer post on DePo today but decided to let my daughter carry the day. In short, I would reiterate that I do not for a moment think this is the time to abandon support for DePodesta (the way Rob at 6-4-2 seems to be). There have been some growing pains, but I still find the Dodgers to be incredibly well set up for the future.

After looking at the numbers, the decision to use Phillips at 1B over Choi seems to become even more inexplicable. If you argue that Tracy was using Phillips as a 1B to cover Choi's weakness vs. LHP, consider that Phillips' OPS is
.804 vs. LHP and .600 vs. RHP. Choi's?
.771 vs. LHP and .799 vs. RHP

So is an extra 33 points of OPS worth Phillips' defensive stonehandedness?

More to the point, comparing season numbers is misleading when the choice is between Phillips at 1B or Choi at 1B, you should compare their numbers in those roles:

Phillips as a 1B (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS):
.224 / .246 / .388 / .634

Choi as a 1B (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS):
.262 / .346 / .483 / .829

Jason Phillips was a miserable-hitting first baseman for his tenure at the position, and Tracy just kept going with him.

You'll notice that Choi's numbers are much better as a 1B than his season totals. Logically, this is because Choi was a lousy pinch hitter:
.195 / .277 / .317 / .594

And yet Choi was used in that role 41 times. If Tracy wants to let Choi rot on the bench, he really needs to be serious about it.

That's pretty good. And yet Choi was placed in the lineup outside the #2 slot far more than he was used in it. Choi's OPS in the #3, #4, etc. slots was .000, .650, .405, .773, .429, .277 and .636 respectively - the last one presumably reflecting his use as a PH.

Is it possible to look at these numbers and conclude putting Phillips at 1B over Choi didn't cost the Dodgers some runs and/or games this season? Or that not using Choi effectively had the same result?

I'm actually not convinced that Bako wouldn't make a better backup catcher than Phillips, setting aside the Issue That Shall Not Be Named. BP says that Phillips had a worse year than even I thought he did.

Regarding Lou, I had a pretty good seat to see him up close when he was with the Mariners. I did not think much of the way he made his exit from Seattle and his performance in Tampa Bay has been less than stellar. No way I would hire him to manage the Dodgers. I am on record as saying Tracy should be back. I don't think a manager merry-go-round helps a franchise. Bobby Cox in Atlanta, and Walt Alston and Tommy LaSorda with LA have been successful because they had a stong front office that did not panic when things did not always go as planned. Give most managers good players and they will succeeed.

Regarding the catchers, I see no reason to bring Bako or Phillips back next year. If Martin is as good as advertised, I would let him and Navarro handle catching duties next year. Phillips can't throw and Bako can't hit. Let the kids play until or unless they show they are overmatched.

Finally, I wonder why Babe did not wear #3 when he coached for the Dodgers. I have seen pictures of him in a Dodger uniform, and if I remember correctly he was wearing #36.

Speaking of the potential need for a backup catcher, here's an idea. How about signing Piazza to play backup? I'd like to see him in LA for the last year or two of his career, he would be a hit with the fans, and he would be more than adequate as a second catcher / pinch-hitter / emergency firstbaseman.

68 Agreed, there's more than enough AB's to go around at catcher. Any LA fan of the last 5-10 years knows all too well the effects of too much playing time on a catcher. I'd be more than satisfied giving both Martin (assuming he is ready) and Navarro 250-350 ABs to find out what either can do.

What Stan said on Piniella. His biggest problem in Seattle, as I saw it, was he made terrible choices with relief pitching - yanking starters in the middle of innings, and plugging in the guy who gave up the big home run. His only WS came with an absolutely bulletproof pen in Cincy, and even then he needed the Jose Rijo Miracle to win it.

On Tracy: Izturis and his .300 OBP and .624 OPS got 401 ABs in the leadoff spot. I mean, ye gods. I don't know a team that would make the playoffs making that kind of bass-ackwards choice day in and day out. The Mets did it with Reyes (whose OPS is almost 60 points higher than Izzy's), and it almost singlehandedly killed them.

Jon,
Best wishes to your 3-year-old Dodger fan on her special day! It's good to train 'em early to be Dodger fans.

Your adorable audio clips remind me of the days waaay back in 1963 when our family provided child care for my year-old nephew while his parents (my oldest sister and bro-in-law) worked.

Another sister (who was 13 at the time) taught him to say: "Yay Dodgers", "Boo Giants", and names such as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Ron Perranoski, and Dick Tracewski. He would be rewarded with a bit of his dinner.

His dad was a big Giants fan from SF, and tried to undermine our efforts on the weekends...Of course, he failed miserably!

74 - Plaschke pointed to Tracy's 85-win average as a reason to keep him. Anyone who would give Izturis 401 ABs in the leadoff spot cannot expect better than 85 wins a year, and it's arguable they don't want to. I think Tracy is to be commended for hitting his ceiling, and now let's go get somebody with a higher ceiling already.

If we pick up Craig Wilson from the Pirates you have a player who can play 1st or the OF against LHP and be an emergency 3rd string catcher. Don't look at his numbers this year as he's been battling injuries all year. From 2002-2004 he posted an EQSlg% of 450/518/503. His 3 year split shows him with an OPS of 963 against LHP. That is mashing. Even against RHP his split is 798 which is acceptable. He would be the perfect replacement for Saenz because he can play the outfield and catch in a pitch. Hate to waste a roster spot on a full time 3rd string catcher who is only there for emergency purposes. Just a thought.

CAL got thoroughly whupped in their bowl game last season, but recall that they played with their top 3 WRs out. So Rodgers was throwing to freshmen who hadn't played, and they, predictably, dropped a lot of passes. At full strength, it would at least have been a game. Oh well.

I agree with those who say we should go with the kids at catcher next year. If nothing else, this will keep first base for first basemen.

As for the Saenz/Choi comparison, one thing I'd ignore is RBI. That has more to do with batting order than anything else, and Saenz was ALWAYS used in a run-producing slot. That's why we prefer OBP/SLG type numbers. Both guys were good. I think it's fair to say that Saenz would have been better if used less, and Choi would have been better if used more.

75 I don't see a conspiracy. DePo doesn't see Martin playing for the Dodgers until 2007. Martin's already caught a lot of games. The situation with Navarro's son might be a wild card, but otherwise, there's no need to create a situation when it appears they've made up their minds that Navarro's their man for '06.

I absolutely agree with signing Bako over Phillips for '06. Bako's reputation is as a superb defensive catcher. When Navarro's resting, I'd prefer to see someone who knows what they're doing back there. He is also probably in a good position to teach Navarro a few things that Phillips, due to his ego as much as his skill shortcomings, won't.

Phillips had his chance and failed, as far as I'm concerned. He is a C- catcher, and a C+ hitter. Adios.

When Navarro first started catching regularly, several of the Dodger starters praised his work behind the plate. I also recall somewhat heated discussions between Phillips and some of the starters in the dugout. So that would suggest that the pitchers aren't clamoring for Phillips to return next season.

What does this tell you about his, or any manager's, potential "ceiling"? While these numbers are definitely skewed by one of the best regular season teams EVER, has Lou gone from being a .617 manager to a .414 manager in 3 seasons? Or has he gone from a top-5 payroll team to the lowest in baseball?

My argument is, there is a lot more that contributes to a successful baseball team than simply who the field manager is. Anyone care to compare Pat Gillick's W-L records to DePo's?

87 - An additional player that Seattle sent over to Tampa in that trade was our own Antonio Perez, who was sent to Seattle from Cincinnati in the Griffey trade. Again, I will never understand how the Reds could trade away a hot middle infield prospect named Tony Freakin' Perez.

1st inning: retired in order
2nd inning: 2 out double followed by runner being thrown out at plate on single
3rd inning: retired in order
4th inning: 1st and 3rd with no outs and no runs scored
5th inning: Leadoff single followed by DP

91 I was going to try to give a serious answer, but I like Bob's better.

Okay, serious answer: Martin needs to play full-time. It won't be with the Dodgers next year. This doesn't mean DePo favors Navarro over Martin, long term. I'm he hopes Martin kicks butt in Vegas next year.

At the end of 2006, DePo might have the perfect situation--two desirable young catcher with low salaries. Can you imagine what one of those two baseball equivalents of bling-bling would bring in a trade with the right team?

I'm guessing Pittsburgh would not give us Bay, or Cincinnati give us Dunn, as compensation for Tracy, correct? That sure would be nice of them

I like Bako as the backup next year. While a Navarro/Martin tandem would be nice, I don't trust them to be consistent. At least with Bako, we know what we're getting every 5 days (or however often he catches). Plus if he's injured again (old catchers do tend to get injured), we have Martin ready to take over. If Martin or Navarro were injured, we'd be seeing Rose, Bellorin, or some other AAA catcher that we sign in the offseason. Look at Arizona, they thought they were fine with Snyder/Hill based on last years production, but they had Stinnett as a backup

Just make sure you understand that Bako can not hit. He can not hit in the day, he can not hit in June or May. He can not hit against the left, he can not hit righties of heft. He can not, shall not, will not hit, on any day Navarro sits. Will he prevent runs? I am not sure. But his hitting is something like manure.

I realize the hatred that Phillips brings here, but, we're talking about Paul Bako, pretty much the definition of replacement level catcher.

Do we really want a guy with a career .640 OPS playing every fourth or fifth game (or third, as was the case this year)? If we have no other options, sure, bring Bako back. But, if Phillips comes cheaply enough, I don't see why we can't hold on to him, especially if we can be confident he will be the backup catcher/third string first baseman.

101 Understood, completely. Still preferred to Phillips, who is below-average behind the plate. Phillips' best day was the day he arrived in exchange for Kaz Ishii's contract. He gets a gold Maserati for that act alone. But it's been downhill most of the way since.

Here is some interesting contract info on some of our players:
Manager Jim Tracy: signed a 2-year deal worth an estimated 1.8M (including poss. incentives) thru 2006 season on 11/24/04- + he will make 750K in 2005 and about 1.1M in 2006 (he made 575K in 2004, the final year of his previous deal)- + he can exercise an escape clause in his contract following the 2005 season to pursue other baseball-related endeavors (the opt-out clause must be exercised within a week of the 2005 regular season finale) Agent: Alan Hendricks

So he stands to make an additional 350K if he stays. He better be sure he can get another job if he opts out.
---------------------------------------------

Odalis Perez: signed 3-year deal worth 24M thru 2007 season on 1/7/05- he receives a 4.5M signing bonus payable between November 2006 and Nov. 2007- + he will make salaries of 3M in 2005, 7.25M in 2006 and 7.75M in 2007- + the deal includes a Team Option for 2008 worth 9M or a 1.5M buyout- + he can earn performance bonuses in 2006, 2007 and 2008: 150K each for 185 and 200 IP and 200K for 215IP Agent: Fernando Cuza Service Time: 6.027

----------------------------------------------
How's this for a complicated contract.
Jose Cruz Jr.: 2-Year worth 6M thru 2005 season- + he will make 2M in 2004 and 4M in 2005- + he can earn 500K in performance bonuses in 2005: 100K each for 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600PA- + somewhere between 500K and 1M of his 2005 salary will be paid by TAM via cash traded to ARI in the deal in which ARI acquired Cruz- + another portion of 2005 salary paid by ARI via cash traded to BOS in deal in which BOS acquired Cruz- + after trades, LAD pay a little less than 1.4M of his 2005 salary Agent: Hendricks Bros. Service Time: 7.063

107
We can do better then Philips or Bako. Todd Pratt is a FA. He is 38 years old and I'm sure will NOT be looking for a full time gig at his age. He fills the role of backup catcher perfectly and when he plays he has some pop.

Someone mentioned Mike Piazza but if he isn't a DH in the AL next year I'll be shocked.

Phillips has 53 RBIs, that's a pretty number to an arbitrator and other GMs. He's a better hitter than Bako, and I'm not sure Bako's defense makes up for it. A team like the Astros might give us something, especially with the 2 catcher market (I'm guessing Piazza will DH, so it's Hernandez and Molina). If we don't like Bako, the backup catcher market is probably the best market, although don't expect any hitting from them. We can choose between:
Ken Huckaby
Gary Bennett
Kelly Stinnett
Alberto Castillo
Todd Pratt
Ramon Hernandez
Keith Osik
Sandy Alomar Jr.
John Flaherty
Brad Ausmus
Eddie Perez
Einar Diaz
Paul Bako
Mike DiFelice

If Phillips could get us anything in a trade, I wouldn't mind paying some of these guys 500K as a backup. I don't want to pay Phillips arby, but I don't want to nontender him at the same time. The Pirates gave up Leo Nunez for Santiago, I'm not going to give up on Phillips trade value

Is Penny being shut down for the rest of the season? If so, who picks up the 2 starts?

It won't happen, but I'd love to see Billingsley get 1 of them. If not Bills, how about Duaner starts and goes 3 or 4 innings? With the offspeed pitch he developed, he might be a decent option in the rotation next year.

I assume Jackson will get the starts, but I don't think he'll be ready to contribute next year so not that interested in seeing it.

If we want a backup who can hit with a .700 OPS, there are 3 available that we may be able to sign: Pratt, Stinnett, and Alomar. Pratt, at 37, is putting up .250/.335/.402, compared to a career .254/.351/.404, which is the best career OPS (the other 2 barelt pass .700). Narrowing it down to these 3 men, their CS% since '99 are .248 (Pratt), .288 (Stinnett), and .245 (Alomar). Phillips is at .251, and Bako is at .324. So if we want someone who can throw someone out, we want Bako. If want a hitter, we want Pratt. If we want a slow one who can't hit or throw, we want Phillips

124 Duaner in the rotation might not be so bad. I hinted at it yesterday, it gives us a 5th starter and clears the bullpen logjam. There are worse things than giving him two 3-4 inning starts to finish the season

126
Who wouldn't want a catcher who can't hit or throw and is slower then the Angel manager? Anyone ever thought that the goggles are a hypnotic device? The Met's also played him at 1st base so something is going on.

130. Is another late inning Padre miracle in the works. If the Pads lose and Gnats win then they are only 4 games out and control their own destiny as the two teams still have a four game series in San Diego next week. vr, Xei

Apropos of which, Nate Silver has a cool article on BP about aging patterns among hitters by position. Too much to summarize really, but it shows which positions evince earlier (younger) or later peaks and which show flatter or steeper improvements and declines. Average peak is still at ages 26-27. Later for 3rd basemen, earlier for 2bmen. And so on.

137
True, his 2003 season was solid, which was why I applauded the trade in the 1st place. I detested him playing 1st place but had no idea he was having such an all around bad year until the facts were pushed under my nose here at DT and BP. A month ago I thought he'd make a fine backup catcher, I no longer harbor that thought.

17 OK, here's a journalist willing to take a contrarian position on this:

1) Nightengale is a credible, well-sourced reporter, so I think he gets a little leeway on the issue. (If you have info to the contrary, fill us in.)

2) I think the context indicates that DePo's misery is not due to bad weather, or his shoes being too tight, or whatever. It seems clear that it's addressing his situation as GM of the Dodgers. Even if we're getting that secondhand, it's a data point worth considering. As an editor, I would question whether that should be in the story, but as a reader I'm gonna file it away.

Plus, considering how he's been demonized, in many ways unfairly, how could he possibly NOT be miserable? I halfway expect to see him hanging in effigy from freeway overpasses, which can't be a big thrill for him.

And why do we keep seeing anonymous sources despite the conventional wisdom about how bad they are? Because without them, we wouldn't know much. I might not give them full weight as a reader, but I don't dismiss them either.

149. Playing Phillips at 1B is BY FAR the worst. Batting Robles third I can live with, especially considering Drew is out, Bradley is out, and lineup order isn't all that important. Now what I find most laughable, is Tracy's reasoning for doing some of the things he does. vr, Xei

If I am not mistaken, Korean-American Night at Dodger Stadium is the 27th. Which is five days away. Fortunately, the DBacks have a day off before then, so they probably won't be starting Estes and maybe Tracy will give Choi a sentimental start. I think Webb would be the starter, but who knows about the state of the DBacks "rotation".

149 Actually, before Robles' recent slumpy behavior, I can see why Tracy would bat him third: he has essentially only one dangerous bat in the lineup (Kent), and Robles has shown a pretty decent ability to get on base.

With Aybar batting leadoff (and also getting on-base a lot), putting Robles third has the good possibility of Kent coming up with multiple men on base. Of course, this could also be achieved by a Aybar-Robles-Kent top of the lineup... but we really don't have a solid #4 bat.

Worst single AB decision: having Perez pinch-hit for Choi, and then asking Perez to bunt. If I was Choi, I'd be beside myself.

Worst multiple AB decision: having Izturis hit leadoff 401 times. The leadoff man typically gets the most ABs in a season, and Jim Tracy chose to give those ABs to arguably the worst hitter on the team. Willie Randolph took a lot of heat for putting Jose Reyes in the leadoff spot, yet Reyes '05 was a better hitter than Izturis '05, and Tracy took surprisingly little heat for this decision and gets praised for his game smarts, professionalism, yadda yadda.

Alt.: leaving DJ Houlton in one pitch too long again Colorado last week.

163 - Thanks for the link. Is all of America pulling for the Indians at this point?

About the Indians' recent surge, Guillen said [para.], "I'm not worried. I'll get worried when we're one game behind." Uh, what if that's on the last day of the season? By then you won't have anything to worry about. Guillen is as brilliant as he is charming.